The Mumbai police control room is grappling with prank callers at a time when the police has been facing flak for being unable to maintain law and order. A brief study of calls made to emergency numbers 100 and 103 since 2012 reveals that around 80 per cent of the calls are not genuine and callers often make lewd statements to the policewomen manning the control room.
While the number 100 is meant for general crime emergencies, 103 is a dedicated for crimes against women, children and senior citizens. In 2012, a total of 40.25 lakh calls on the number 100 were recorded, out of which only 6.50 lakh were genuine. Calls on the same number from January to July 15 this year have been 23.66 lakh in number with only 1.61 lakh legitimate callers.
On the 103 emergency line too, the year 2012 recorded a total of 95,729 calls with only 17, 149 genuine callers. Between January and July 15 this year, the helpline received only 13, 575 serious calls out of a total of 42, 901. “The statistics clearly show that more than 80 per cent calls are genuine. Many are blank calls where our operators have to hang up. Then there are phone calls where callers abuse police and then disconnect the phone. We can easily trace them through the number displayed on our system and book them for giving false information but that will amount to acting on almost all calls,” said an officer formerly with the control room.
The control room, located inside the headquarters of the city police commissionerate, receives around a thousand calls on the 100 helpline. However, the most annoying callers are the ones who indulge in lewd talk with female constables. “We had arrested a 25-year-old man two months ago for making sexually explicit comments to a woman constable following a complaint filed by her,” said senior PI Deepak Dhole, who formerly headed the Azad Maidan police station under whose jurisdiction the police headquarter falls. DCP Keshav Patil confirmed contending with the menace.